HAMILTON, Bermuda — Two more people have passed away from COVID-19 in Bermuda, taking the island’s death toll from the virus to 116, but the number of active cases continues to fall, health officials said..
Health Minister, Kim Wilson. Minister of Health Kim Wilson, announcing the latest fatalities, told a media briefing on Thursday night that a further 290 cases of the virus were detected on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday.
But 603 people have recovered since Monday’s previous update, reducing the number of active cases to 1,404 with seven patients in hospital and two in intensive care.
Wilson said the latest wave sparked by the Omicron variant was not over, but the Ministry of Health had begun a review of the island’s COVID-19 regulations with the intention of introducing changes on February 4.
“We are assessing a number of metrics, including our vaccination rate and the COVID-19 indicators for our current outbreak.
“Additionally, and importantly, we are taking into account the government’s shift to living with COVID, which requires all of us to take personal responsibility for our actions,” Wilson said, adding that the government was also looking to “reset” the island’s strict travel testing regulations by April 1.
She said that of the 290 new cases, 32 cases were classified as coming in from overseas and the remaining 258 were either the result of on-island transmission or under investigation.
Wilson said that 101 people had died of COVID-19 since January 11, 2021 when the government’s vaccination programme was launched. Eighty-six of the fatalities were not fully vaccinated.
She said 71.6 per cent of the population have been doubly vaccinated and 64.8 per cent of those eligible had been given a booster shot.
In all, Bermuda has logged 10,552 cases of the virus since March 2020.
CMC/ic/ir/2022
